Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Related Searches
Synonyms
Nearby Words

do-gooder

 - 4 dictionary results

do-good⋅er

  [doo-good-er, -good-]
Use do-gooder in a Sentence
–noun
a well-intentioned but naive and often ineffectual social or political reformer.
Origin:
1925–30, Americanism; do good + -er 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To do-gooder
do-good·er   (dōō'gŏŏd'ər)
n.  A naive idealist who supports philanthropic or humanitarian causes or reforms.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
do-gooder [ˈdugʊdɚ]

  1. n.
    a person who is always trying to help others. (Often derogatory.) : I don't consider myself a do-gooder, but I try to help people.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

do-gooder 
"a person who seeks to correct social ills in an idealistic, but usually impractical or superficial, way," 1654 (as do-good), in "Zootomia, or Observations on the Present Manners of the English: Briefly Anatomizing the Living by the Dead. With An Usefull Detection of the Mountebanks of Both Sexes," written by Richard Whitlock, a medical doctor. Probably used even then with a taint of impractical idealism. Modern pejorative use seems to have begun on the socialist left, mocking those who were unwilling to take a hard line. OED has this citation, from "The Nation" in 1923:
"There is nothing the matter with the United States except ... the parlor socialists, up-lifters, and do-goods."
The form do-gooder appears in Amer.Eng. from 1927, presumably because do-good was no longer felt as sufficiently noun-like. A slightly older word for this was goo-goo.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see do-gooder on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
Ask AnswersEviteExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyMy Way